Award-winning musical is a love story with a difference

Steve Barton

The Last Five Years, the award-winning musical from writer and composer Jason Robert Brown, is coming to The New Wolsey Theatre in Ipswich from Thursday, February 25 to Friday, March 11.

Recently a major motion picture, The Last Five Years starts and ends with the beginning of a passionate love affair, the unique style of storytelling and infectious score makes this one of America’s best modern musicals.

Actress Cathy’s story starts with the end of their relationship following their tale backwards to when she first fell in love with her young talented lover. Novelist Jamie’s story begins with their first passionate encounter and heads forward towards heartache.

The Last Five Years stars Chris Cowley and Katie Birtill, who took the title role in Sweet Charity at the New Wolsey Theatre in autumn 2015.

The production will feature a live band led by musical director Caroline Humphris, creating Cathy and Jamie’s world as it crumbles and reforms around them.

As part of their mission to create theatre that is as accessible as possible to all, the New Wolsey Theatre will make every performance of The Last Five Years audio described for visually impaired audiences using integrated recorded audio description that audiences can experience through a headset.

Audio Described performances give live commentary about the action happening on the stage and is a great way for anyone who finds it difficult to see the details of a performance to enjoy coming to the theatre.

With introductory notes to listen to at the start of each performance, the cast will be recording the audio description as their characters.

The project will be overseen by Jamie Beddard, an Agent For Change for the New Wolsey Theatre.

Tickets are on sale now and can be booked through the Tickets Sales Team by calling 01473 295900 or by booking online at www.wolseytheatre.co.uk.